Red Dirt Harriers

At this point, I will say that the weather has really been sublime the last few days in Norman, none of the crap that most of the rest of the country, other than central and SoCal has had to endure and very little wind. However, I have incurred an additional injury, no doubt due to compensation for the prior one. My knee has been doing weird things, not tracking properly and giving me shooting pains when it shifts out of alignment, even while biking or, say, walking down a ramp of the beer truck. At this point I've set an appointment with a ART guy up in the city for my foot, which will hopefully make some progress on the root cause. I am going to continue running but just for a few paltry miles at a time and pretty much all on even grass. It is weird because I had been really good about rolling my foot, but I reckon at some point I crossed a line where the rolling was inflaming the injury so now I'm going to do more strait icing, which has shown at least some benefit. I'm ...

I wonder if this is still the case, but how can it not be. I mean we obviously need to off some managerial higher-ups and regulatory who's-its. I'm watching the best John Cusack/ Minnie Driver/ Jimmie Piven film in existence, Grosse Pointe Blank. This thing is iconoclastic in both character image, homage, and soundtrack. If you have a dialogue like this, can you really go wrong in a non-commital, roguish type of film: Debi: You know what you need? Marty: What? Debi: Shakabuku. Marty: You wanna tell me what that means? Debi: It's a swift, spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever. Marty: Oh, that'd be good. I think. So since tonight was a major holiday of the Anglo variety, I indeed happened to swing by the Library to see what was on simmer. It was pretty busy but not overwhelmingly with regulars of my vintage. I figured with the various Pagan/ Papal overtones interwoven with this day, I'd opt for the Trappists best, at least in the Norman sense whi...

Ah it's the holidays, which means the James Bond-athon is in full effect. With any luck I might be able to see 3 different epics as I sit and watch the freezing drizzle outside the shop. I have been remarkably diligent this morning, waking up before 7:30 and heading out to meet Jacqua for some coffee and a cobblestone and then actually logging a couple morning miles. I learned that Panera has designs on expanding to Canada and that it operates the largest free WiFi network in the US. I debated on taking Dori the dog for a jog this morning, but I'm not sure of her aerobic condition and since I have been giving her a lot of TBonz brand dog snacks, I feel like her heart health may be compromised. The most anticipated appointment of the day is an epic Stout taste-off over at Stevenson . I think they have the upper hand mainly because my variant is a bit young while theirs has been aging for a couple months which is about ideal for this sort of thing. I am confident in the quality o...

So I'm not going to lie, my motivation has been a little low. When I do lace up the sneaks, I am glad I did, but every time I head out I am reminded that my foot is still a limiting factor and it fucking hurts. I appreciate the sentiment of my local running buddies, who being primed and motivated about there upcoming exploits, continue to try and pry me loose from the bonds of the couch but it also feels like I have to daily remind them that yes I have to run on soft surfaces and yes I have to warm up and yes I have to stretch and ice afterwards which usually necesitates some extra time thereby rendering me unable to run with said personalities. I'm going to repeat the above mantra whenever I feel overwhelmed and frustrated and tell the chemicals in my brain that endorphins are begotten through a bit of physical toil. The more I think about it, I think I'm just in a bad mood this morning because I had to stoop so low as to drink expired Folgers coffee, which was indeed as d...

Today was a fairly long day. I biked up to the shop, arriving none too early and had a military guy berate me for not opening before 10 so he could buy a bottle of Patron. It was a really nice day, but sadly I had to watch most of it from behind glass. I didn't get out for a run in daylight as I had to get Dori the schnauzer out for a bathroom break and eat some holiday Oreos. It's a very convoluted situation, but since I have resumed riding my bike for transport and aspire to shower only by sink, I didn't have ideal footwear and had to run in the Cascadias, which was a mistake. Another error in judgement included trying to run the river trails home in the dark but decided one broken ankle was enough for the night and tried to exit, only to be blinded by the Marc Heitz dealership lights- I'm pretty sure the temperature was several degrees higher in the vicinity of that place. Anyway I made it home and grilled a couple Bison T-bones, that's right dose.

I'm optimistic again, about things wide-ranging. Last night I made the trip up to Bolero, a new Spanish restaurant in Bricktown, which was decent if not novel for OKC. Spanish food(and wine) have been all the rage as of late, and the place is nicely hip but I think they may have to do more with their cuisine and service to make it last here. That being said, I love the idea of appetizers as a meal and they offered maybe 12-15 options. I wasn't that interested in their entrees, other than paella so I didn't get one instead going with: Fried Goat-Cheese w/ Honey Torino wrapped dates Fried 'chokes w/ dill-cream sauce Ceviche of shrimp and small scallops Red Sangria Our waiter wasn't overly insightful, but he had the hipster thing going and I ribbed him a couple times. I think he could have been a better embassadour of the cuisine but it may not really be warrented by the majority of the customers. After all I'm difficult in that I expect regional food to be just th...

Well, as we approach another weekend, I am going to hope that the events of last weekend don't repeat themselves. I can say that the highlight of last Saturday night was sushi with the boys at Gaijin, Guinness, OU romp and a surprise showing by a couple friends. The lowlights were much much lower. Moving on, my foot was also at an all time low the last week or so but I have made a little progress and now I get to go and rep the OKrunner ELite squad in the Dallas WhiteRock Relay. Yes, it's a relay and if I had to run a mile more than my assigned leg, I'd probably croak, but I think my other teammates are feeling competent, maybe even salty and so I think I will ride high on the good vibes and mimosa-swilling fans along the course.

My heal had been pretty effed for most of last week and naturally after the Turkey Trot as I had no time at all to ice or stretch and drinking Optimators and fraternizing till the wee hours, sadly, is not the cure for this infirmity. Anyway, I ended up taking Friday off completely as I picked up a bit of a cold and being pretty careful for the rest of the weekend, sticking to grass and getting in alot of barefoot time in which really gets the fascia stretched out, plus you get some sweet callused and dirty feet . If only I had the power to cultivate some sweet hair on them as well. I think it was a wise idea as today I'm feeling better and ready to get a little work in this afternoon after a morning run on the roads with Holly. It's really effing windy which stirs up my allergies and places like the river trails and Sutton are more protected anyway so I'll override my aversion to driving to a run and head to one of those choice spots, maybe put in a little fartlek out there...

If you've never experienced Norman, OK during the holidays, than you've never felt the way that a large college town completely respires it's student body to parts unknown and finds the locals creeping out of their holes and heading out to reconnect with their favorite watering holes. If you're really cool, like me, than you head to The Library, which is what I did last night and experienced the somewhat surreal fact that every other table in the joint was occupied by former acquaintences of some form or another. The next point of order here would be to explain that like Kevin Barnes, I too have an alter-ego. Unlike his Georgie Fruit, the former R&B sinder turned genderless superhero, my doppelganger is a 54 year old, 1 mile fun runner named Jerry Lang. Well yesterday, fate intervened and low and behold Jerry Lang recalled the fitness of his youth and set a new age group national record at the OKC Trukey Trot. My memory of yesterday eludes me but I did find it odd t...

I think it is a shame that psychotherapy is such an overlooked area of medicine, I know I would like to have some things explained to me about my addiction to short shorts and hate of cell phones, as I'm sure others may be curious about as well. You my fine reader do know that running for many is the ultimate expression of the libido in the Freudian sense of the word, which is to say the life force and the combatant to Thanatos . Or is the death drive the true mark of the beast, the impulse that drives one through the darkness unconcerned with the return trip. More Sober Updates: Pretty good training as of late with the help of Jordan, Holly, and a few others. Turkey trot on the way. Evidently Team OKRunner Elite will be gunning for the coed relay title at the White Rock Marathon, which should be a blast. Hopefully Megan knows where to find a good pint afterwards as well.

I met up with Aaron Jaqua and Justin Lebeau last night at the former Le/Qua compound on Highway Symmes. These are a couple friends that we basically met from running down Symmes St. so many times and they were gracious enough to have a get-together last summer where they sampled my Belgium Dubbel. While not hardcore beer aficionados like myself, they are willing to drink what I bring and give me loads of compliments in return. So during the first installment these two were nextdoor neighbors but are now each married and Lebeau and his lady had to move but that didn't stop us from using his former patio, stoking up the chiminea, and sampling my last pale ale, some of my spiced perry, and a couple brown ales. Jaqua is about as happy and gracious of a person as you can imagine and Lebeau is practically the mayor of Chickasha, OKlahoma so I can complain about their roads and lack of donut shops. I got to here about the recent Jaqua trip to England and Scotland and his infamous "wo...

I manufactured a couple arch inserts at Jordan's advising for my Brooks Defyance, which I like but seem to be a little too neutral for me. Anyway, the tad extra support did the trick and my heal felt pretty good. I have an bit of a adductor strain but nothing outrageous, so Holly and I got moving reasonable well until his Cici's decided to return the favor and he had to jog it in. I dropped him off and then pushed it intermittently according to traffic. I caught a 3/4 mile late in the run around 5:40 pace. It seems to help to have a closed route for faster stuff when you run around lunch and as of today, I have officially graduated to some more specific training. The title of this post refers to the statement by Q from the Bond films. I got to see some of the previews for their latest go of it, which seem pretty good. I just hope Bond doesn't destroy any new wonders of the world in the like he does his cars and women. I was remembering Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q and in...

Man, I couldn't hold on to my Pub Run legacy and was relegated to a 4th place finish. I actually had a decent run I think and I didn't re-rupture my plantar so it was as much of a success as I could have hoped for, unless I lived in a Bizarro Guinness world, where my consumption of the coveted life elixir healed all that ails and soothed all woes and I was talented enough to win races without having to do any quality work. I did have a blissful time and downed lots of the namesake beverage. Holly and newcomer Jordan made a nice go of it while former OSU All-American runners were less than impressive. I appreciated the NY Times article regarding conflicts between runners and autos and can safely say that I've pretty much encountered all the mentioned situations and then some. I'm not sure what's happened lately to make the average interaction seem less than cordial, maybe I'm somewhat to blame but the situations that piss me off are when drivers are pretty much ...

Tried to vote early last week but that wasn't happening as Cleveland County doesn't have much of a venue and evidently alot of folks are turning out. Being Oklahomans, we have some very important fundametal state ballot issues. For instance, we have an initiative to add hunting as a constitutional right. Now being a liberal who enjoys fishing and sees an importance in hunting (it's a crazy paradox right?) I still don't see any need for this issue and I don't like the notion that people could override state conservation experts if a animal species were endangered. Remember this is a state where you can legally noodle with spearguns, trap animals, shoot mountain lions (which are not in abundance), kill feral pigs without a license, and buy automatic weapons at flea markets and people get all worried that a vegan PETA supporter would somehow get elected and then pass an initiative to ban hunting? Not bloody likely. More reasonable would be that the allowed people to sh...

If you're into that funky, picquant flavor only brought about through fermentation and the work of microbial elements, than may I suggest a product that JoKIN tipped me off about, Kombucha. Native Roots is now carrying High Country Kombucha , which is organic, fair trade certified, and augmented with a variety of additional flavors. I can vouch for the wild root variety and don't forget to watch out for indiscriminent particles floating around in your drink, as they could definitely be a choking hazard. On a similar note, I taste-tested my Pear-Cider and other than a little less carbonation than I had hoped for, the stuff is pretty reminiscent of a domestic(read US) hard cider. I think the vintage is still a bit young and will only improve throughout the fall. I will say that I'm not the biggest fan of hard cider, simply because of its sweetness but I was compelled to test my brewing meddle and Johnny Sharp had a bumper crop of pears on his trees, so I went with it. I can s...

Why is it that the Norman/OKC running scene can never get on the same wavelength as far as health and motivation? Today, we had 7 representatives shipped out to various competitions across the nation. Holly had the best result at the T-town 15k Run w/ 49:0X finish, next was Stu and Cat, who hit the Monster dash with respectable performances. Cat should be in good shape for a Guinness Run if her drinking is coming along any where near respectably, and finally me and a bunch of law dogs hit the local streets for a Judicata slog. My performance was satisfactory but I'm still at odds with how to go about training with this PF that really isn't improving much. I've been lazy in general and more specifically in rehabbing, I suppose. The race all of us are waiting for is of course the Marine Corps Marathon. Megan and Jilane have most impressively completed their preparations without injury or default and it does me good to see these two ready to give it a go after having gone thro...

And now for the rant of the week: Alright so if you don't know, the now infamous Outback Steakhouse theme song was stolen from the dicoteque product from Of Montreal . The fact that some marketing exec for Outback was able to nip this one from the band, despite compensation, is disheartening. But I just want to know how they decided to go for this one. CLearly, they are counting on the fact that most people don't know who this band is or that their lead singer is known to be lopsided at best and has on multiple occasions performed nude during live shows. I want to believe that some savvy person went to a show and knew exactly what they were doing when they pushed this one in hopes of helping the band and promoting fucking real music and culture, not shite ballads. I'm not knocking the band, I'm just saying their a real band with drug and sex innuendos and a Muslim drummer and in America today that is still a very dangerous, unpatriotic notion and maybe the fact that Out...

This weekend went by ohh so fast. I had the pleasure of attending Tulsa Octoberfest on Friday evening with Holly, Spenis, John & Heather. The evening consisted of drinking free beer to our hearts content for 2 hours and then working the Spaten tent for 4 hours while intermittently making treks back to the beer tent w/ Spencer. Needless to say, the evening flew by and I was considereably inebriated by the time midnight rolled around and the cops booted us out. This year Spencer yet again rewarded me by purchasing a chicken head hat and escorting me around demanding I wear the sorry rag. Although, I will say that Spenis should be mightily congratulated for scoring some chicks number while working the beer garten. Evidently those crazy Bavarians are into odd-themed garments on top of their lederhosen and massive beer steins. After a miserable predawn run and drive back to Norman, I pretty much crashed for the entire afternoon and evening while taking in the obligatory OU football. The...

As we are rapidly approaching this year's edition of the McNellie's Pub Run, people are starting to get pretty fired up. As all of you readers should know, someone from our training stable has taken the title since the inception of the race and we aim to keep it that way for a long time to come. While I'm appalled by my own fitness level, I know Holly is pipping this race as a crucial mark of his fitness and he looks to be the man to beat. Being that yesterday was Humpday, we decided to head up to the city for a practice session and a $3 burger. The practice went alright although I was unhappy that when Skolnick made a little move going into the last 1/4, I was unable to cover it, but like I always say- it's hard to beat the buzz that culminates after a hard fought, beer fueled footrace.

Yesterday, I got some football viewing in, making for about the first such instance of this season. Both OU and OSU played exciting games and although I didn't care for the officiating, I would bet that Texas is beatable in conference play, allowing us to still make it to the conference championships. Maybe I'm overly hopeful in the wake of my Pig's Eye buzz from last night. I was happy to be able to get in a decent run yesterday, although today my foot is pretty sore as a result. I have definitely turned a corner with the injury and if I don't overdo it, I think I should be able to progress without any more major time off. I still feel pretty weird from the biking transition. The impact of running is muscularly way different than any effect you experience on the bike, I don't care what anybody says about genetics, drugs, or VO2, Lance Armstrong will never run under 2:40 for the marathon. THe Chicago marathon was today and without wondering what if, I can say that t...

Last night I was lucky enough to see the Romeros in concert up in the city. While I doubt that this was a particularly memorable show for them, I really enjoyed the show. The performance was booked by OCCC and due to the nature of the show, the moved it to First Presbyterian Church in Heritage Hills, which is a nice place but it was a little tough to see all of the players antics without stadium seating. In any case they played a variety of songs and styles from several different time periods. Celin, Celino, Lito, and Pepe Romero are clearly very pleasant musicians who enjoy playing before all types of audiences. I was a little surprised that OU didn't book them but evidently there was a conflict at Catlett and the quartet are playing so many shows that they have a very limited flexibility. I have always been particularly fond of the piece Granada (this is Segovia and the video is not Granada, it's La Malaguena), and it was nice to see the two elder Romeros' duet rendition...

So in lieu of any running during the month of September, I've been getting in some biking and I think I'm actually alot stronger right now as I've been basically doing daily rides back and forth over the vicious southeast Norman hills to the house the I'm watching. Well yesterday I was screwing around on this quiet road and naturally I managed to bite it on some loose gravel or an acorn. I was going so slow that I didn't get any excellent road rash or exposed butt-cheek for the ride home, I just nailed my hip strait on which made for a very painful ride home, I had to get out of the saddle every time I needed to apply any force as the seated position was excrutiating. I feel geriatric sometimes. All this biking made me contemplate yet again why running doesn't maintain the same atmosphere. I've always played with the idea of hosting a race and I would definitely make it mandatory that we have ladies (and gents) at the finish to help celebrate the winners, no...

The transcript documented this couple , that go collectively by the moniker Bumfuzzle. It sounds like a spectacular way to see the country. I think I would have to grow some padding on my ass first, because the '58 VW panelvan can't have much in the way of suspension to contend with the myriad of potholes one must encounter. I am surprised they haven't gone the biodiesel route on this one but it still seems like there getting by very well without having to pay rent and waking up to the sunrise in a different latitude daily. Also, in the Oklahoman this morning, there was notice of the City of Norman making an effort to increase biking feasibility around town. They mentioned such bizarre notions as "pilot testing bike lanes" and "painting dual bike/auto marks on the road." All of this is in hopes that the city can gain a Bike Friendly title, with which I'm very surprised they are even concerned. I can say that they're a long way off right now and t...

So as I sit watching the Friday Night Fights, aka the Presidential debates, I wisely cracked some beers. Namely, I indulged in my last Chem Lab Porter, which is a meal of a beer. My one criticism is that with all the high tech gear those nerds have over there, they still can't produce a decent head on a beer. No, I'm not as hard core as Jordan with a full day's fast, I opted for a couple apricot chaussons but if I were, this beer provides all essential nutrients and minerals and therefore I opine that it is the ideal dieting beer. I do hope that other folks are watching this thing. I cannot stand the down talking from Mccain as if he's more experienced in every avenue of the game. Don't tell me that because you've gone to Afghanistan or served in Vietnam that you deserve to be such a didactic presence. All you are capable of is your own agenda, which I think is far to much about isolationism. I don't have any problem with US leaders meeting with rebel groups...

So for a while now I have had a quest of producing a podcast and I can proudly say that I am closer to realizing that dream as I officially clogged my harddrvie with all manner of editing software and sound clips which should allow me to begin attempting to paste a few minutes of the most pithy and intelligent music, info, and sound bytes that you ever heard. I also noticed, proudly, that marathons are listed as #27 on the list of stuff that white people like and so I am certainly doing my part to convey my stereotypical being. As a side note, I'm amused at the disbelief and concern from people outside the "runner" subgroup that a person would actually dedicate consistent and lengthy time towards training for an event. As if it's hard to belief that you would spend alot of time on something that you were excited about and at the very least was good for you, made you more appealing, got you out in public, allowed you to see your city/town/country. I was talking to thi...

Still not running so I've been on to other pursuits, namely a state record largemouth bass. Now maybe there are other states where the bass get a little bigger (California- where they feed their bass fat lazy rainbow trout) but I maintain that if I catch anything over 5 pounds from my kayak, it's going to feel pretty massive because and it makes for an exciting battle. I headed to Mountain Lake on Thursday and caught quite a few fish, the largest of which was actually a catfish that hit a tube jig. I had fun touring around in the yak and can't help but wonder when I will make an epic overnight trip in one. My two destinations of choice would have to be The Boundary Waters/ Quetico and Baja, California. Highlight of the week: watching the sunset on the OKC skyline from the rooftop patio at my buddy Ben's b-day party. A couple of enterprising baker divas produced a solid fondant representation on the cake. Food is good and when it when it comes in bright non-naturally oc...

A quick running update: as I'm now approaching 2 weeks on the DL, I'm still feeling alot of soreness in the heal and arch. My analysis of the issue is a partial rupture of the fascia, this being the reason for the lengthy and severe inflamation. At this point I'm optimistic that I'm making small strides through a hell of a lot of stretching to make sure the scar tissue heals in the ideal lengthened pattern. According to Dr. Brian Fullem, a respected poiatrist to elite runners , actually tearing the plantar is not that much of a detriment other than the initial recovery time as long as it is rehabbed correctly, it almost acts like the surgical correction process in the it should let up some of the tension on the tissue. My main concern is that I will keep inflaming it at the insertian to the calcaneus and not get out of the cycle of injury. Vamos a ver. In other news, I follow Peter Travers, the Rolling Stone movie columnist , and along with the excellent September issue...

Notching a goose egg in the books for today as I opted to manually break up the scar tissue in my heal, cell by cell. My massage technique of choice: regulation polo ball courtesy of the Will Rodgers Polo Grounds in Pacific Palisades. I believe this particular ball came from the scintillating match between colossal polo powers Beverly Hills v. Malibu. With me luck, I had forgotten how much energy it is possible to have as I have stayed up until about 2am the last few nights watching shit TV and drinking beer and still gotten up about as early as I do when I hang a hundred in a week. I will be attempting a run in the morning and am finding interest in documenting how rapidly I can lose fitness and then scratch and claw my way to the Chicago marathon finish line.

The fuck you talking about man. This damned body of mine is just not holding up its side of the fucking equation. I feed it, nurture it, and abuse it and yet it never seems to come out stronger and faster. I ran 15:41 at Brookhaven this morning with a 3:00 first k which means that I ran really poorly the rest of the way. My heal, which went from being manageable to pretty fucking awful early this week, had a slight limiting effect but that really wasn't the problem, I just felt tight. I most peeved by the fact that I backed off the last week or so and never felt good and I put in alot of work in hopes of a good Brookhaven run. (end of tyrade) Anyway, I move forward with some ideas for future summer training ideas. I may have made a mistake by trying to run high volume and high intensity work throughout the Oklahoma summer, but I still maintain that this is all an investment for the future (unless I have succeeded in rupturing my plantar) and I really know I'm fit although with ...

Heading to T-town this weekend for the Riverside 5k and maybe a little clean fun afterwards. I'll consider myself lucky if I run sub 15:25 and break even in financial expenditures. Odds of my success

So our highlights from the trip begin in Santa Fe, NM where we stopped at a Trader Joe's for the sake of our inner yuppy and I bought: 1 loaf of supremeley dense bread, 1 pound of dark chocolate, 2 cans of peanut butter, and 2 sixers of beer. We also stopped by the plaza and St. Johns College, which is a nice funky little place where they were hosting a summer class from Seattle Pacific and we noticed ads requesting transportation across the country with strangers and numerous volunteer opportunities. From there, we headed to our first overnight spot, Abiquiu Lake, about an hour north of SF. We stayed at a new campsite with full amenities and lots of RVs running their generators. Bill and I hit up a jog in the warm, but dry darkness. In the morning after a cup of french press coffee, we headed out for a longer run to check the area. The altitude was probably aroung 6k' but there were lots of roads to explore and evidently we missed out on a really nice dirt road running for mil...

I'll get to a much more detailed rundown of my vacation time to Colorado and Neuvo Mexico but I'm lazy just now so we'll go with a rundown of the training since being back in triple digit heat and swamp-fest humidity. On a side note, I am going to note that it felt easier running at 9,000+ feet of altitude than in the weather of the Sooner state so when it cools off here... who knows what's possible. Thursday I tried to do a 6 mile progression but it was tough. Ran 33:50 with like a 6:00 first mile and 5:20 last on the 3 mile Chatacqua > Berry loop. Tough and I couldn't pee until mid afternoon (badly dehydrated). Did hit up Louie's for beers where we saw lots of very badly behaving 30-somethings and Bobby Stoops. Prositutes may or may not have joined the fray at one point. Friday went an easy 11 with Skolnick exploring the river trails, which are in pretty good shape albeit lots of loose sand. Saturday, I went Kenyan Style and tripled 6,4,7 so as to include a...

According to wikipedia, Durango is the basque word for "water town," which is perfect because I plan to ice after damn near every run with the possibility of noodling for some of the massive trout in the area. This should be a hell of a nice trip and really my only trepidation is that upon returning to Nompton, I will have to readjust to the merciless heat here.

Planned workout: 8-10x 1/2 mile w/ 2:00 jog in 2:30 (maybe a bit faster the last 2) Actual: 4w/u strides, 8 @ 2:35, 4c/d This workout was very lackluster, just couldn't get moving and so I called it early instead of finishing a shitty workout feeling shitty. Naturally, I feel fine now. Now, I'm not much of a mystic but if I were, I would cite one or more of the following excuses for my performance to boost my street cred: -Dr. J's out of town visiting Hotlanta and I've come to appreciate his masculine escort. -As it turns out, today was the ascent of the Col de la Bonnette, the highest through road in Europe, so I should have done hill repeats or something -Le Alpe D'Huez is actually tomorrow so I was out of tune with the "correct vibe" that I needed. -I neglected to dawn my lucky hat and jockstrap this morning, opting for the sunny's instead -" Maybe I shouldn't have drank so much Absynthe? " -I had one of my somewhat lackluster ESB'...

Another week in the books, this one amounting to just short of 120 miles on the legs. That's what happens when you put 2 long runs in one week so not really any change in the mileage. I feel like I'm adjusting to the work and weather. Probably going to hit a workout manana as a prelude to watching what is set to be a hugely important and exciting ride up Le Alpe D'Huez. I caught Hellboy 2 yesterday, which was fine, and because The Dark Knight was being overrun but what was most disturbing was the selection of previews they aired before the film. The list included a Toby Keith film where he shoots up a bunch of Mexicans with some other country singer, then there was a horror movie ad called Quarantine where as far as I could see they just shot the thing in the dark and in this all to common jarring, jumpy manner. At this point, I turned my attention to my Milk Dud box because I was more stimulated by it than the freaking movie screen. Anyway, I maintain that Guillermo Del To...

Jordan and I put in some good work yesterday morning on the roads consisting of 2.5mi tempo loop, 2x mile, 2.5mi tempo with a minute jog between each. I had some rare morning GI issues and only managed to run 5:06 for the miles whereas Jokin was 5flat. I did feel good on the tempo portions though. I'm convinced that although I stayed up too late at McNellie's the night before, I was ideally fortified from a couple courtesy Black&Tans and accordingly able to grit through the rough parts. This morning I had some dead legs early on but loosened up alright towards the end of an easy 10. So, after the run I had to bike over to the tag agency to pay some registration crap and managed to bump into Todd Maycumber, who for those not in the know was the OU XC coach during some of the most unillustrious years of the program. I don't fault him at all for the performances and think he's a pretty good dude but the university only awarded the program like 1.5 scholarships at that ...

Jordan and I attended to the long run, which I voted to put off yesterday, this morning. I'm still feeling a bit rough and have been since last week but today we ran fairly steady throughout and I didn't fall to pieces. The main issue was traffic as apparently Monday is more or less the only day people in town get up early to go to work and everybody seems frantic to get going. I made it over 2:10, so we'll call it 19. Mainly struggled with fluids again as it was humid and sunny, but with a northerly gale. I guess this wraps up another 110+ for the week as I was hitting the miles early in the week and thusly left floundering for the second half of the week. I'm lucky I didn't wake up with skid marks on my face. No races in the plans really so I'm guessing we're going to try to introduce some specificity in the coming weeks. In more scintillating news, today marks Bastille Day, so I had to pay attention to the Tour in a most French manner, which means sitting...

Wednesday was an eventful one. To start, Jordan and I undertook a little more daring workout venture. THe workout was a 6 mile tempo run then a jog to the track and an 800,600,400,200 at 5k pace. I surprisingly felt decent when we started the tempo and assumed I would only feel better as the workout went on. However, the tempo proved to be a little tough by the last mile although I just more or less maintained 5:30s throughout despite some miles with slick turns or some strait down a flat road. The mile or so jog over to the track left us pretty soaked as the humidity was quite high. I always have trouble changing gears so I just pretty much progressed into the 800 in 2:29 and then was able to take off a couple seconds per 400 for the next repeats. Jordan was way out front as this is clearly the most glaring example of our inherent abilities. The track work left my legs feeling a little more responsive but by the time I got home, I was definitely a little depleted. A Gu might be a good...

I have been turned on to a choice bit of info from a former colleague in the Chemistry department. Evidently there is an unofficial beer brew-off that will conclude with judging on the weekend of July 12. Hopefully, I will be able to make the judging as the memo that I recieved mentioned there only being 5-7 entered brewers (you must be a current OU student). As luck would have it, my recent batch will be blossoming just about that time so I'm hoping to sneak a couple bottles through security and in front of the judges. I'm also hoping some of the old professors have themselves got some product to be enjoyed. This could be the beginning of a beautiful thing. On another beer related note, Jordan, Skolnick, and I enjoyed our first Cheladas yesterday at the behest of Gus Thompson. I think they are decent and although I wouldn't classify it anywhere near a beer in flavor, it would go well with some summer snacks or maybe poolside...

The rubber bullets are flying and the cars are burning, but in Madrid not Berlin as I anticipated. The German squad was very lackluster and the inspired play of fellows by the name of Sergio Ramos and Torres really defined the game. Regardless, I was excited to watch the game and I am saddened by conclusion to Euro '08 because I don't expect quite the level of play during the Olympics- we shall see. Anyhow, I continue to be irritated by the token coverage in the paper when I know that the tournament drew by far the best viewership of any sporting events this weekend- and yet the fucking sports editor of the Oklahoman continues to refute the capability of soccer to draw US fans and in general question the quality og excitement brought by the sport. I'm sorry but aside from the fact that this game is full of some of the most amazing athletes in any sport, you don't have to have high scoring games to make a sport dramatic and enthralling. I agree that not every game is pur...

I've got to keep this one short and concise- for the big Euro '08 Final is getting started. I got a reprieve this morning and was able to be lazy and not get out the door until after 10:30 while still getting in around 19ish miles. I wasn't sweating much at all, as the heat and humidity were far below normal for this time of the year. I called it at about 2:05. I've got my money on the Germans but I expect an exciting match and judging by the pregame dancing Mozarts and Enrique Iglesias concert, they've pulled out all the stops for this one...

So, in neglecting to press forward with a summer abroad in the US, I unfortunately missed out on a brief return trip to Missoula, Montana and Grand Teton National Park with good friend and current Albuquerque resident, intellectual, and donut king, a one Professor Trevor Gillum. True, the confidential Army funded study that Skolnick and I took part in pretty much completely soured our impression of the UNM HES dept. but Trev extended exceptional graciousness in putting up with our antics for 5 or 6 weeks in his extreme efficiency apartment and man we have some fond memories of last summer. Of course, the summer before that is when I was able to spend a few weeks in Montana and found it to be an amazing place to which I will definitely return. If you are reading this good buddy, I hope you're living it up and making the most of your brief relent from the call of duty in the Duke City. Bobby Dylan would be proud. So in other news, Jordan and I rattled out a decent little 8mile tempo ...

A friend sent me this , proudly brought to you by the good people at The Onion. Managed to roll out of bed for a jog w/ Jack and Jordan. Heal still sore and I was quite lethargic but it was a great morning to meet with those hipsters. Got a nice little bike commute in over to Panera and put down 4 cups of coffee without any response whatsoever. I think I need more sleep. Managed to chat with Mr. Aaron Jagua and as we sat outside his house and admired the newly installed speed bump situated precisely in front of his house, we were serenaded by the screech of breaks and the noise from cars as they hit the bump, regardless of whether they choose to slow or not. I'm going to rant on this one: this is a useless epidemic in Norman and a blight to the already subpar thoroughfares around town. They are putting these things on the very roads that I specifically choose to bike and run over because they are away from heavy traffic but allow for functional transportation around town. I maintia...

This week Jordan and I have started meeting consistently to get some work in. I think the quality of my efforts has been alot higher and the runs go by amazingly quickly. My plantar fasciitis is flaring a bit but I've started attending to it and I think I can staunch the issue. I was sadly unable to take advantage of the Dump the Pump promotion from CART. I had played with the idea of trying to take it up to OKC and hit a bar but it would have taken like 90 minutes and I didn't want to drive myself and I was sort of engrossed in painting the house. Story of my life. McNellie's is sooo tempting but just a little inconvenient. They have pint nights on Mondays and $3 burger nights on Wednesdays- I'm of course going to push for an epic carpool for breadsticking. I can't imagine too many people can bitch and moan about quality beer and burgers (as Pepe's and Himalayas were heavily pooh-poohed). Things are good right now but I really need a bit more income. If you...

5 of the most charming and distinguished participants from the Healthplex 5k . Clearly everyone needed some freaking coffee.

Closed out the running for the week with a long one in the 2:20 range, I'll call it 20. Ran the 17 mile out Cedar Lane to 60th and back on Lindsey. I was really full from a late dinner and sluggish but after a few miles and a pit stop, I felt decent and chugged along, concluding with a couple uptempo miles and a dip in the apartment pool. For brunch afterward, I hit Cafe do Brasil in downtown OKC for a change of pace and then caught the Best of Fest Short Films at the OKCMOA. The selection of films was pretty wide ranging and I'm not sure I liked the 2 Okie productions at all, very reliqious and disturbing. I really want to see Wayne Coyne's Christmas on Mars but have no idea when I'll get a chance again. Also of note is that I got another batch of beer in the fermenter. I'm going to hope for a decent ESB, the rest is up to the powers that be and the yeast. Overall, a good week of training, I'm going to start up a little more 10k pace stuff before long for the p...

Delayed the long run until Monday after one fun but hectic weekend. The temps were great but had to wait out some lightning and flash-flooding. Once I did get out there, it continued to sprinkle throughout which was such a nice change from what I've had to deal with lately on long runs. So the title refers not so much with the presence of rain but that I was succesfully able to pull off the mid stride micteration. That's right folks I was able to purge that 3rd cup of coffee while legging it out and I plan to do it again when I return to the friendly confines of Cedar Lane. I think the above notion, be it disturbing or no, was in a way prompted by this weekend's goings on which included a 5k, half of which I had to solo into a stiff 25mph headwind. Next was the drive with Darren and Skolnick to McNellie's in T-town to consumate the winnings from the Pub Run. A good crew showed up and we burned through $450 in record time. I was unhappy to see a single cent go towards gi...

Such read the posters near the halfway point of the Boston Marathon. I've let 3 weeks get away from me before the much hyped summary post so maybe it's too late to really get into the race. I can say that the result gives me great hope for a significantly better time down the road. My second half was 4 minutes slower than the first but it wasn't like I hit a wall or anything, I went through some tough patches and then was pissed to not be able to roll downhill after emerging from the Newton Hills mostly unscathed. The biggest excuse I can offer is that I seem to have some worsening exercise induced asthma that may have been exacerbated simply from an allergic reaction that was bothering me (and has continued to do so) for a week before the race. I hope to get that figured out. I'm just going to go ahead and say it- I felt like I was in shape to run 2:25. Did it happen? No. That will be the goal next time (Chicago '08?). More exciting was the atmosphere of Boston. T...

I gonna recap the last 10 days of my life which were quite memorable ASAP and try to throw some pictures in as well...

So this past weekend marked the completion of the priming stage for my Belgian Dubbel Ale so, needless to say, I trialed my first (and additional) bottles on Saturday night. I can happily say that the beer meets all of my expectations and yielded a very accurate representation of a Trappist style ale, in my mind. I could only hope that famed beer critic who first enlightened the US and UK on the magisty of Belgian beer, Michael Jackson, would approve. On Sunday, I did my first rendition of Renato Canova's "special block." I was a little apprehensive that this was going to be tough to carry out or that it might take too much of a toll on me at this stage of preparation, but actually I was quite happy with the workout other than the fact that I woke up on Monday with a sore calf, no doubt due to the sharp turns at Redbud. So the workout is an am and pm session od 6miles at 80% goal marathon pace/ 6 at goal marathon pace. It can be modified when done multiple times. I warmed...

Three weeks until a variation of Big Dance where I hope its a party all the way to Boylston Street and I don't leave the show heartbroken. I've made it a point to spend some high-end aerobic quality time out on Cedar Lane and East Lindsey to best invoke a similar stimulus to the quads, hammys, and gastrocs. The last three weeks following the Little Rock debacle I've been holding at 120+ miles and have had some good efforts. Basically, I've tried to just raise the bar from the fall in terms of specific marathon quality perhaps in lieu of the 5-10k modeled work, we'll see what that does for me. Since I've slacked so much with the blog, I'll put up the obligatory sample week for what was a good week for me and open myself up to the critics out there in the ether: M- am 84' and 5 strides pm 49' w/ 8 strides T- am 70' pm 33', 12 x walnut hill(12-15seconds), 5' home W- am 4 mi, 5x 2mi on the roads w/ ~2' jog (10:52,:42,:46,:52,:39), 2...

Got back to the long run with a satisfactory result this morning. I did an easy marathon simulation workout with a 20 minute warmup, 4 miles steady, 55 minutes regular, 5 miles steady, and a mile plus to finish for something in the realm of 20 miles continuous. I was more beat than I would have been a week ago, but I got in a nice groove on the second steady section running 5:45s or so which given my recent recovery from viral bronchitis, I will take. I can't seem to fully knock the chest congestion and coughing but my energy levels seem good. I'm looking into summer plans, which would definitely involve being away from the heat and humidity of Norman. I'm trying to rally any and all parties interested in sharing a cheap pad in cooler climes. Colorado and New Mexico are the obvious contenders but Flagstaff, Oregon, or California would also be acceptable.

Despite continued refusal to operate at full capacity my lungs and the rest of my body completed a couple of runs today, sandwiched around a mostly unscintillating day at NHS. I want to know what makes certain kids think that they can completely disregard an authority figures and argue and interrupt while I try to impose some small level of diligence upon them. I can't imagine a scenario where I would have talked shit to a teacher or substitute in a similar circumstance so I'm just trying to understand if anything has really changed with the youth of today. Oh and cell phones are everywhere in school and they think it prudent to utilize them as often as possible. Add that to the list of things that makes me despise that infernal invention all the more. On a different note, my family headed up to Tom and Jerry's on 23rd St. last night for my mum's B-day. It was a pretty good place (I sadly had to keep the wine to a minimum), but interestingly empty all night. This is an ...

Well this past weekend was supposed to mark my return to racing as I entered the Little Rock 1/2 and had already gone in with Bill for a hotel room. On Friday afternoon when I got out of school my throat was a little sore and my chest was giving me some asthma-like trouble, but having spent alot of my springs in the midwest, this is pretty much inevitable for me and I just try to work with it. Anyway, by the time I got to Tulsa on Friday night, I was feeling rough and after a night of no sleep and alot of hacking and coughing, I felt worse. However, I just decided to go anyway and just do what I could which at this point was obviously not going to be much. I couldn't sleep Saturday night either and was pretty weak and had the chills. Anyway, the race was pretty good sized and there were some good dudes up front in both the 1/2 and full marathons, albeit alot of road carnage along the way as it was a fairly tough course and it was unseasonably warm and humid. I later learned that a ...

So while we in the OK state were all enduring last weekend's freezing rain and Billy G's biscuits and gravy, Wolfman Trev and his lady friend Seamus Gurley were tackling the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon. What does a quadrathlon enatail, one might inquire (surely it involves some use of firearms)? Well actually, the race fuses running, biking, XC skiing, and snowshoing in a out/bacl format to the peak of 11,000'+ Mt. Taylor covering 42 miles in all. It looks tough and I would have no business participating in the snow sport portions of the event but nonetheless it sounds like alot of fun that may have to be completed by more of us in '09. Anyway, I think Trev got 2nd in his age group and there are some really good athletes participating in the event like Josiah Middaugh. So props to my Duke City comrades for getting it done. Just thinking about the Duke City leads me to wishing for some green chile laced foods. However, since we are seriously lacking in this department, I will...

From hence forth, I dub one Mr. BJ Grona as my personal rejuvenator. I headed up to T-town for a relaxing weekend. On Saturday, Bill and I met Steven Murphy for a long run. It was a nice relaxed run and we covered Riverside and some other new bike paths that run on the west side of the river by Turkey Mountain. The run was tough as we had freezing rain for like the middle 45' which had us somewhat miserable for a while. Anyway, we managed to get it done and then Bill and I grabbed a fritter at some redneck donut shop where Bill was sure that this old lady in the kitchen had grabbed a shotgun upon our entry in rainsoaked half tights and short shorts. I can neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of this accusation. The rest of the weekend progressed in a nice similarly lethargic manner. We ate alot of food and zonked out for a while and then watched an enthralling episode of Nature. My legs have been really feeling good, so I'm getting excited about doing a couple more workout...

So when I left off, I was just about to go see the Bob Dylan semibiographical "I'm Not There." I don't know if I would recommend this movie to people just because they are fans of the musician, but it was an interesting take for sure. THe movie is highly stylized and shape-shifting, so in that way it could mimic its intended characterization. THis is not a straight-forward film and if you don't have patience for the nuanced blotter style where we visit and revisit the various characters throughout the film in non-chronological order, this may not quite appeal to you. I think it is important to read a review to sort of grasp what your getting into plot-wise. THe film portrays a number of Dylan-like roles. I can point out that the movie, while it sheds light on the multi-fringed life of Dylan, it seems like it is a bit short-sighted over the most popular Dylan catalogue. I still don't know quite how I feel about this one, but I like to think that I could see it...